Cougar? Glencoe urges caution after possible sighting

A cougar shot to death by an Illinois conservation officer on a farm in Whiteside County. (Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police)

Officials in north suburban Glencoe urged residents to exercise caution a day after a horticulturist for the Chicago Botanic Garden reported seeing a big cat that could have been a cougar running into a wooded area.

Botanic Garden and public safety officers spent a few hours scouring the area for signs a cougar, but found none. Searchers found plenty of deer tracks in the muddy ground, but there was no evidence of a large cat like a cougar, said Tom Tiddens, supervisor of plant health care and an animal expert at the Botanic Garden.

In addition, the Botanic Garden’s trail cameras have not captured any photos of a large cat, he said.

“We never want to say never, but at this point it appears unfounded,” said Katie Sweeney, a Glencoe animal control officer.. “We know there are quite a few coyotes in that area, and when it’s dark, it can be easy to think you’ve seen a bigger animal.”

The horticulturist who filed the initial report was driving on Lake Cook Road near the Botanic Garden at around 6 a.m. Tuesday when she saw an animal with large, cat-like hindquarters and a long tail running into the woods, said Tiddens, who interviewed the employee shortly after she reported the sighting.

It’s not the first wild cat report in the North Shore suburb. In July, Glencoe’s Public Safety Department received a report of a bobcat in a resident’s back yard, said Glencoe Police Deputy Chief Alan Kebby.

The lack of tracks and photographs doesn’t rule out a cougar, since they “do a wonderful job of hiding,” said Chris Anchor, a wildlife biologist with the Cook County Forest Preserve.

But Glencoe residents probably don’t have much to worry about, he said. While any wild animal is dangerous if cornered, cougars generally take pains to avoid humans, Anchor said.

And even if what the woman saw was a cougar, it’s likely far from Glencoe by now in a quest for female companionship, Anchor said.

Officials say there are no sustained cougar populations in Illinois. The cougars found in the state over the past decade have been young males pushed out of the Black Hills in South Dakota to look for their own territory and potential mates, Anchor said.

“They won’t find those here so they just pass through. If one were to show up, it would probably be 15 miles away in 24 hours,” he said.

The most recent documented cougar sighting in Illinois came Nov. 20 on a farm in Whiteside County, about 130 miles west of Chicago. Because the family who lived on the farm felt the cougar was a threat, a conservation officer with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources shot the animal, which weighed more than 100 pounds and was hiding in a concrete tunnel under a corn crib.

There were also confirmed sightings of cougars on wildlife cameras in Illinois in November 2012.

The Glencoe Public Safety Department is encouraging residents to report any sightings of suspicious animals or deer carcasses.